Cerritos College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to support an increase in the number of all gender-neutral restrooms on campus and the addition of “single stall restrooms” on Feb. 22.

This started with ASCC voting unanimously to support gender-neutral bathrooms at Cerritos College on Nov. 28 of last year and was an update on the gender-neutral bathrooms on Jan. 23 of this year.

Vice President Lopez and Police Chief Don Mueller did a visit with ASCC with that update to find solutions to create gender-neutral restrooms.

At the time, there was only one gender-neutral restroom, which was in the GNB building and the limited-access one in the PAC.

However, this also positively impacts people with disabilities, “Whereas, for students with disabilities, single-stall all-gender restrooms provide an opportunity for greater assistance.”

“As it avoids all the issues with attendants/workers of a different gender from the student being unable to enter the restroom and assist the students.”

Amy Parker, the person who advocated for gender-neutral bathrooms and is the director of equity and diversity for ASCC, gave her thoughts on the Board of Trustees’ support.

“It’s absolutely a great step forward for inclusion and equity at college,” Parker said, “I’m glad they listened to the desires and needs of students and decided to work for our interests.”

“I’d like to thank LGBTQ+ Program Director Nio Lavermon for helping me out with everything and for the jumpstart of the connections that had to be made with administrators.”

“Getting the BOT [Board of Trustess] to supercharge their effort feels great, because we are finally being listened to,” she said, “I would like to thank them for finally making all of this happen.”

Dr. Jose Fierro, president of Cerritos College, said, “I’m grateful for the board […] the Cerritos College Board has been helpful of our DEIA [Diversity Equity and Inclusion] efforts.”

“The passing of this resolution brings us closer to the campus,” Dr. Fierro adds, “We have already identified 18 gender-neutral bathrooms on campus and we will build more as our construction project advances.”

“I appreciate ASCC leadership and collaboration in this effort, without their help we will not be able to move this effort forward.”

Trustee Marisa Perez, who suggested putting this resolution to the board, said, “Everyone on the Board is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, so when the resolution passed unanimously, it came to no surprise.”

“We want to ensure our marginalized student groups, and that includes our LGBTQI+ students and employees, have the resources they need to thrive on campus.”

Cerritos College put out an email on Feb. 24 outlining the passing of the resolution and gave a map of the gender-neutral bathrooms.